South Korea Close on F-35 Fighter Deal

South Korea is close to purchasing 40 next-generation F-35 jet fighters from Lockheed Martin later this year.

“We will … push to sign the contract in the third quarter … after testing and further negotiations,” Jung Kwang-Sun, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration’s aircraft department director, told reporters in a briefing late Monday.

The South’s air force has been looking to upgrade its aging fleet in the face of North Korea’s growing nuclear threat.

“If we choose to buy F-35s, we will choose to buy the F-35A that has been adopted by the US Air Force,” he said, adding they would be delivered from 2018 onwards.